Tarhan: "We have to hospitalize more adolescents than we have ever seen..."

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan participated in the "Health and Life Guide with Ezgi & Peace" program broadcast on Beyaz TV. Tarhan, who made remarkable evaluations about the effect of social media on our lives, stated that it is necessary to be the subject of social media, not the object, which he defined as the open door of the house. Pointing out that being on social media for more than 3 hours a day, apart from conscious use, can disrupt mental health, Tarhan stated that today's adolescents are victims of social media. Tarhan expressed that "We are admitting more adolescents than we have ever seen to the hospital, we have to hospitalize them.”

The open door of the house: Social Media

Drawing attention to the fact that children and adults should learn media literacy, President of Üsküdar University Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "Social media is a technology, technology is inherently neutral. Depending on the way we use it, it can be beneficial or harmful. For this reason, social media should not sit in the dock immediately. It is necessary to evaluate whether it should be used or not. In 2015, the UK officially established social media brigades. What does social media have to do with the word 'brigade'? This actually shows that it sees it as a kind of argument for war. The fact that it gave this name in this way in such a way that it would use social media for political goals or to change and manipulate the masses... I searched on the Internet, looked at the source to see if it was true, found it correct and was surprised! In 2015, this could be a big army of trolls, it could be normal propaganda, black propaganda, gray propaganda. Therefore, anything can be done. At the moment, there is a possibility that the Internet environment will use every word like a bullet. Every word has the possibility of being good in a person's soul, and every word has the possibility of being bad in the soul of one or two people. When we say social media, we are in the safe environment of the house, our smartphone in our hands can enter the most unsafe places. It can easily enter times and places that are not suitable for one’s age, chronological, biological age, and spiritual age. For this reason, we now call social media and smartphones the open door of the house. In other words, the mother and father think that they are at home in front of their eyes, but the child can enter very insecurely. For this reason, it is necessary to teach media literacy to children and even adults. Everyone needs to have media literacy, and if they do not do that, social media starts to affect them negatively."

Those who do not fulfill their obligation of loyalty are exposed...

Stating that social media is beneficial to honesty, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that it is not possible to do a secret job on social media and that the person definitely leaves a digital trace. Tarhan stated that "There is a saying, 'The liar's candle burns until nightfall.' I love it. I translated, 'The liar's candle burns all the way to the Internet.' That is, sooner or later it comes out, so those who do not fulfill the obligation of fidelity in marriage are seriously easily exposed. In fact, we can say that social media is also beneficial for honesty. The person pushes their sides to be open, transparent, and honest. It is not possible for such a person to do a secret job on social media, one definitely leaves a digital trace. For this reason, it obliges people to be honest, otherwise their life is turned upside down. Businessmen have a saying; 'I lose money, but I do not want to lose trust,' because when you lose trust, the credit line goes away."

Being active on social media for more than 3 hours impairs mental health...

Mentioning that people are culturally managed with the influence of social media, Tarhan said that "Social media is inherently very convenient, and attractive, tremendously attractive. Now, it is more attractive than television and there is instant active communication with ease. For example, people with impulse control disorder enter their social media account as a stress reduction technique, you see that hours have passed. There are studies that have been done. The mental health of people who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media deteriorates, but more important than this hour is what the person is interested in on social media. In other words, a person has a purpose in social media, he can spend time with social media for that purpose. For example, if you are a journalist, you can spend hours researching a topic to make a purposeful analysis, you do not mind that, but you become the subject of this social media. If you become the object of social media, for example, something you like has come out, you look at your hours. What is happening? We are deceiving ourselves. The person voluntarily changes their own culture by being influenced by everything that is sold there, advertisements, etc. People are culturally managed. With artificial intelligence, it captures your interest from the keywords related to whatever the topics the person enters the most, even if you do not want it at all, and sends news from there. In fact, persuasion laboratories have been established in search engines related to this."

"Adolescents have become victims of social media"

Drawing attention to the fact that children are especially the victims of the negative use of social media, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "In terms of health, adolescents are the most affected in the use of social media. And right now, teenagers have really become victims of social media. That's why families are crying out, 'Our generation is disappearing,' but this is not only in Türkiye, but also globally. Right now, we are hospitalizing more adolescents than we have ever seen, and we must hospitalize them. The one who reported his parents to the police, the one who pulled a knife on the mother and father. Negative use of social media is also especially the victim of children. It has a lot of influence in the family and in human relations. It undermines trust in human relationships. In trust-human relations, especially patients with mood disorders and bipolar patients cannot regulate that emotion due to the effect of the disease."

"It is necessary to ensure that quality work is visible"

Talking about the things that advertisers who will use social media should pay attention to, Tarhan said that "The advertising and promotional power of social media is very important. There, too, the right ones are a little slow to act, but they are sustainable. Those who are not true make propaganda like a flash in the pan, they affect people, but they eventually fall apart because they are not sustainable. For this reason, those who will use social media, that is, advertisers, should pay attention in order to o ensure sustainability by providing open, honest and transparent advertisements. It is important to be able to make defenses and information that we can fill in, not such momentary attractions. In this day and age, visibility is important. Visibility is important, that's why you're doing a job, but if it is not visible, you are limited. It is necessary to ensure that quality work is visible. This is the positive use of social media.”

News: Ebranur Özdemir

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)